Valley charities ramp up for holiday drives amid the hard times

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A Salvation Army worker cleans a donated refrigerator at a Salvation Army warehouse on Nov. 9, 2010 in San Jose. The Salvation Army in San Jose is down about 10 percent in donations this year, and officials there sorely need your gently used furniture, clothing and cars. Sales go to help 97 men with substance abuse problems lead healthy lives and kick the habit. (Dai Sugano/Mercury News)

A worker put donated items in a box Inside a Salvation Army warehouse on Nov. 9, 2010 in San Jose. The Salvation Army in San Jose is down about 10 percent in donations this year, and officials there sorely need your gently used furniture, clothing and cars. Sales go to help 97 men with substance abuse problems lead healthy lives and kick the habit. (Dai Sugano/Mercury News)

Inside a Salvation Army warehouse, an employee Lucy Ayala, who has been working for the Salvation Army for 23 years, puts price tags on donated clothes on Nov. 9, 2010 in San Jose. The Salvation Army in San Jose is down about 10 percent in donations this year, and officials there sorely need your gently used furniture, clothing and cars. Sales go to help 97 men with substance abuse problems lead healthy lives and kick the habit. (Dai Sugano/Mercury News)

Inside a Salvation Army warehouse, an employee Army Jessica Carrillo sorts donated items on Nov. 9, 2010 in San Jose. The Salvation Army in San Jose is down about 10 percent in donations this year, and officials there sorely need your gently used furniture, clothing and cars. Sales go to help 97 men with substance abuse problems lead healthy lives and kick the habit. (Dai Sugano/Mercury News)

With the holidays approaching, Silicon Valley charities are launching new and creative efforts to stave off compassion fatigue.

In an unprecedented marketing campaign, the Salvation Army this year is airing a PR campaign to ask for gently used furniture and clothing. And the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties is organizing a “game” involving 120 companies with the hope of raising $11 million during the two-month holiday season — the most the food bank has ever sought.

And those are just two nonprofits out of the many struggling to meet the growing needs of an equally struggling population.

“All the nonprofits are having a difficult time,” said Emmett D. Carson, president and CEO of Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

Carson said creativity in donor campaigns is especially needed now, but no matter what the medium, the underlying message should be to show that giving is “an opportunity to be a healthy community.”

“We have intellectual talents and treasure here,” Carson said. “We need to activate that and then we would see a burst of charitable giving.”

The hope is to see that burst at Salvation Army centers across the country, including the one in San Jose, where the $6 million brought in each year helps to pay for 97 men to live, work and get help for drug and alcohol addiction.

This year, donations in San Jose are down 15 percent; in Fresno, they’re down 23 percent.

“We’re very concerned,” said the Salvation Army’s Tony Markiewicz. “In the 10 years that I’ve been here, I’ve never seen anything like this.”

To plug the gap, the 116 Salvation Army centers have launched “Amazing Grace” commercials and started advertising on the plastic dry-cleaning bags that hang over newly pressed shirts, asking customers to give to the Salvation Army.

Markiewicz said he believes the big dip in donations is due to a combination of factors: the economy; confusion with Goodwill, which recently announced it will no longer pick up goods (the Salvation Army still does pickups); and the increase in cheaply made furniture (mostly from particle board or press wood) that nicks easily and can’t be resold in the stores. It’s also because many don’t know all that the Salvation Army is or does. For example, there’s a daily dock sale during the week at 9 a.m. at the San Jose center at 702 W. Taylor St., where mostly broken large appliances and toys sell for low prices.

At Second Harvest, officials still rely on tried-and-true donations to feed the hungry. That includes people who write checks and drop off food in barrels set up at places including Walmart during the holidays; companies, such as Morgan Stanley, which has given millions of dollars nationwide to food banks; and employee volunteers to help sort food donations.

But this year, there is also something new. Brocade Communications Systems CEO Mike Klayko, who is heading the holiday drive for the food bank, came up with a way to encourage giving from the tech industry. Silicon Valley companies are being sent letters inviting them to the “Industry Challenge.” The goal is to raise $11 million — the most ever — in about two months.

“We’ve never done this before,” said Tami Cardenas, director of development for the food bank, which serves about a quarter-million people each month. “It’s brand new.”

She said hunger needs in Silicon Valley have increased by 31 percent in the past two years. Last year, the food bank raised $10 million during the two-month holiday food drive; the year before it was $8 million.

Klayko wanted to insert some old-fashioned competition among nine “vertical” industries, such as high-tech, insurance and venture capital. Each dollar donated equals 2.5 points. Each pound of food donated is 1 point. The total number of points will divided by the number of employees at the company for a “per capita” end result on Dec. 31. Results will be posted online every Thursday at www.shfb.org/industrychallenge.

And the prize?

“The companies, they earn the bragging rights” of being the food bank’s top philanthropist, Cardenas said. “But the real prize goes to the community.”

Contact Lisa Fernandez at 408-920-5002.

if you’re interested

To donate to the Salvation Army, to volunteer there, or to put a Salvation Army box at your work, call 800-944-9677. In San Jose, the number is 408-298-7600.If you’d like to donate or learn more about the Industry Challenge at Second Harvest Food Bank, call the donor hot line at 866-234-FOOD (3663) or e-mail drives@shfb.org. The weekly results of the challenge will be posted every Thursday through Dec. 31 at www.shfb.org/industrychallenge.To learn more about the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, visit www.siliconvalleycf.org.

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